The application value of indocyanine green combined with methylene blue in sentinel lymph node biopsy of breast cancer / 中国医师进修杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To evaluate the potential value of indocyanine green combined with methylene blue and methylene blue alone in the detection of sentinel lymph nodes (SLN) in breast cancer.Methods:The clinical data of 118 patients with early breast cancer from November 2016 to October 2018 in Dalian Central Hospital Affiliated to Dalian Medical University were retrospectively analyzed. Among them, 62 patients underwent SLN biopsy under methylene blue (methylene blue group, 160 SLN), and 56 patients underwent SLN biopsy under indocyanine green combined with methylene blue (combined group, 190 SLN). After SLN biopsy, patients underwent grade Ⅰ and Ⅱ axillary lymph node dissection.Results:There was no significant difference in the positive lymph node rate and accuracy rate between 2 groups ( P>0.05); the SLN dyeing rate and SLN biopsy positive rate in combined group were significantly higher than those in methylene blue group 97.9% (186/190) vs. 93.1% (149/160) and 28.4% (54/190) vs. 18.1% (29/160), and there were statistical differences ( P<0.05); the false negative rate in combined group was lower than that in methylene blue group 5.3% (3/57) vs. 14.7% (5/34), but there was no statistical difference ( P>0.05). Conclusions:In breast cancer patients, the dual -tracing method of indocyanine green combined with methylene blue is better than using methylene blue alone in identifying SLN and predicting the status of axillary lymph nodes, and it has a tendency to reduce the false negative rate.